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charse Thank you for that explanation of how BugGuide works Steve. I had no idea one could post their insects for ID. I am going to join and try it out with the Caddisfly. But I still like posting some of my insects on NatureNS (maybe correctly identified now) b/c often I learn more about their local distribution, biology etc that people like you share with us. Nancy On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 2:25 AM, Steve Shaw <srshaw@dal.ca> wrote: > Hi Dave and Nancy, others, > re Dave's point, the real question is, what are the practical alternatives > to identifying specimens, where there are large numbers of species as with > many insects? There are a smallish number of professional taxonomists in > Canada and USA, most/all of whom specialize in particular families or a bit > higher, but their mandate is not to identify specimens for the public, and > they do it as a favour even for other professionals who need an ID. So you > are not going to get definitive specimen IDs to the bugs that Nancy or > Jeannie turn up fairly regularly on this list, from them: they normally > would require a number of pinned specimens sent to them first hand for > meticulous checking, as Dave implies, but are normally too busy to spend > much time on this, and then only for a directed reason. > > One alternative is to find a published key for the group, but these are > often in academic journals or books that may not be accessible, or even > exist, or be old and incomplete. But it is much worse than that. You will > need to know or learn the names of the many cuticular plates and bristle > types on the body, otherwise 'pilose episternum' won't mean anything as a > fork in identification -- real hair shirt stuff. I agree with Nancy that > I'd rather look at images. > > The other alternatives are several sites with images that you can fairly > easily compare to your insect (very good for syrphids and deer flies in E. > Canada, for instance), and for small easier groups like butterflies, there's > the excellent and comprehensive Butterflies of NS site. After that, the > wide-ranging BugGuide is actually excellent, and, as far as mistakes are > concerned, it actually has a self-correcting process of review by insiders > and outside professionals and collectors, though this is not instantaneous. > It is possible just to browse BugGuide and look for a match to your > specimen, but that's not the best way. If you really have little idea what > something is, the trick is to join BugGuide (for free) and you then can > upload 1-3 images of your bug (under the heading of 'insect for > identification', or something like it). This then gets worked over > preliminarily by someone there and if others in the system disagree, this is > brought up as comments until the best guess at the ID is known; if the image > is too poor or ambiguous, someone will say so. If you browse through a > large group like I just did (syrphid flies, huge number of images), you will > find a very few mis-sorts (that is, not syrphids). Not sure why that is, > but if you open such an image it usually is identified correctly, as a > non-syrphid. The refinement process happens because expert people regularly > troll through images in their general area and supply one-liner suggestions > on an ID -- you can regularly find the world expert on lower Brachycera's > name on comments, and that of the w.e. on jumping bugs in another area, and > the serious collectors are often just as good. The psychology is curious, > that these people are prepared to spend a bit of of time browsing regularly > through groups and offering corrections or confirmations, where they would > take much more trouble, and much more time, with a small number of a pinned > species on their desk. In the first case, they may feel that their > professional reputation is not in question, but in the second, they will > have to attach an ID tag bearing their name to the insect pin that defines > what it is, so reputation is much more on the line. > > The best method is to join BugGuide then upload images for ID, and not just > browse and look for occasional mistakes. > Steve (Halifax) > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > On Dave W's point: Many of the Internet based ID guides such as Bug > Guide do have limitations. But they often are fairly accurate and are > user friendly. I think they are great by providing an accessible guide > for people who are not experts, nor want to be. The more folks > interested in nature the more likely it is to be conserved. > Nancy > > > On 9-Aug-13, at 9:21 PM, David & Alison Webster wrote: > > Hi All, Aug 9, 2013 > I don't want to sound like a wet blanket but one should be aware that > both Bug Guide and images have limits; the truism that a picture is worth a > thousand words nonwithstanding. > > This Feb., I wondered what the oval 'shelters', that are made of > shredded White Pine inner bark, in which I have found Pytho americanus Kirby > are called and whether they are made by the larval or adult stage. So I > Googled Pytho and was pointed to a Bug Guide image of Pytho americanus Kirby > that did not remotely resemble the genuine article. > > Recently I failed to ID an image of a very common fern that I have know > for 75 years and which I see just about everywhere in my woodlot during the > growing season. It was a perfectly good image but it looked too green, too > firm and too regular to be what it was. > > Nothing beats first-hand contact with the organism by unaided eye, feel, > hand lens or microscope as applicable. > > Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Angus MacLean > To: naturens > Sent: Friday, August 09, 2013 4:41 PM > Subject: RE: [NatureNS] Colourful Caddisfly- correct ID? > > Great photo, Nancy. > > Your i.d. seems reasonable but take a look at Hesperophylax designatus. > > Caddisflies must be difficult for even the experts to identify. > > Angus > >> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 11:15:13 -0300 >> Subject: [NatureNS] Colourful Caddisfly- correct ID? >> From: nancypdowd@gmail.com >> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca >> >> This caddisfly was attracted to the outside lights at L Torment, E >> Dalhousie, Kings Co this week. I identified it on Bug Guide. Does >> anyone know if this is the correct identity? >> http://www.flickr.com/photos/92981528@N08/9473217066/ >> >> The sand grain cases shown for this genus certainly look like the ones >> I am used to seeing on the lakeshore. >> >> I did not realize adult Caddisflies could be so colourful. >> >> Nancy >> >> Sent from my iPhone > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6563 - Release Date: 08/09/13 > >
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